Gender Roles And Stereotypes Of Women

Whether it is on TV or movie screens, the faces of white actors and actresses have always been prevalent in the media. For generations, many teenagers have been exposed to countless movies with white people in major roles. Moreover, the few roles that are cast to minorities feature the characters in their stereotypical personas (Bonilla-Silva 179). Even in advertising, Asians are placed in business settings, upholding the hard-working Asian stereotype (Taylor and Stern 50). As Taylor and Stern mention in their paper, the “model minority” has made the issue of stereotyping seem less important for Asians. The majority of these actors that are examined, regardless of race, are typically middle-age and well established in their acting careers. However, there is a lack of research behind Asian youth acting and their perceived roles. To account for this knowledge deficit, I examine how whiteness influences the media to portray youth actors as individuals that stray from their stereotypes in an attempt to achieve whiteness. My research site centres around Fresh Off the Boat (FOB), a comedic television series featuring a Taiwanese family. The title of the show Fresh Off the Boat or “FOB” is also a term used to describe a person that is considered too ethnic and as a term of denigration. I utilize Pyke and Dang’s categorization of “FOB” and “whitewashed” to analyze the narrator, Eddie Huang. I chose to limit my research primarily to the first “pilot” episode where the audience is

On September 20, 1984 a show aired that changed the way we view gender roles on television. Television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes and in reflecting them TV reinforces them by presenting them as the norm (Chandler, 1). The Cosby Show, challenged the typical gender stereotyping of television, daring to go against the dominant social values of its time period. In its challenge of the dominant social view, the show redefined the portrayal of male and female roles in television. It redefined the gender role in the work place, in social expectations, and in household responsibilities. The Cosby Show supported Freidan in her view of "castigating the phony happy housewife heroine of the women's magazines" (Douglas 136).

While the significance of gender roles has declined in the past fifty years, they still play an integral part in our perception of others based on their gender. Gender roles create gender stereotypes that influence our view of someone and their aptitude in work and child caring. Gender stereotypes depict women as caring, compassionate, and kind; however, gender stereotypes also imply negative qualities for women such as cranky, overly emotional, and submissive. On the other hand, gender stereotypes classify men not only as dominant, assertive, and powerful, but also as aggressive, violent, and uncaring. Many people apply gender roles in how they view other’s aptitudes and responsibilities in a work or home setting, but by doing so they subconsciously discriminate against a person for his gender. Extreme Feminists focus on the discrimination and harassment women face in everyday life due to traditional gender roles and complain that “men have it so good”. However, extreme feminists fail to realize, due to their blind but justified hatred for traditional gender roles that supposedly benefit men, traditional gender roles disadvantage men as well. Similar to how many women fail to climb up the corporate ladder because their superiors view them as too caring and soft to hold a demanding leadership position, many people look down on men when they care for their own children considering them too tough and insensitive to take care of children properly and label their care as

Nonetheless, despite their aim at suggesting modern families, the show still highlights stereotypes and outdated ideologies of gender roles. In this analysis I will use the suggested gender roles to explore how “Modern Family” supports gender identities, patriarchies’ and egomaniac masculinity. The show “Modern Family” shows the lives of three fictional families who form a large extended family. Aside from the talented and whimsical writing, the show is very popular because the characters are easy to relate to.

Throughout history, humans have always been expected to act a certain way depending on their sex. These societal expectations are called gender roles. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These roles begin to develop even before a child is even out of the womb. A mother may decorate their nursery pink if they are having a daughter because “girls like pink,” and “boys like blue.” Gender roles should not be confused with gender stereotypes. A gender stereotype is a narrow way of thinking about how men and woman are obligated to behave. For example, men have always been considered to be the breadwinners of the family. Females, on the other hand, are seen more as the gentle homemakers that stay home to clean and take care of the children. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These types of stereotypes have caused certain out-of-the-home jobs to be mainly categorized for either women or men, causing an even more distinct line between the genders.

The show has also reflected the perceptions on women and I found that the show has described desires of women are used to revolve around giving pleasure to men. I found the show reflecting the male attempting to dominate, control, and manipulate the sexuality of women (Raj,

For a very long time, stereotypes have been part of the society and culture, and to this day, they are still present. Stereotypes can be defined as “[oversimplifying] the image or idea of a particular type of person or thing” (Google Dictionary). A current event would be a female who cannot work in a factory because of her gender, or a male who cannot join ballet because of his gender. But what still occurs in our nation or the whole society is that stereotypes are generally directed against women. The stereotypes our society gives to women lead them to have lower positions in the workplace than men such as women are supposed to make less money than men, supposed to have “clean jobs”, and supposed to not have any technical skills. When women are “supposed” to have these certain positions, it makes them have an underprivileged characterization.

For many years, the movie and television industry has portrayed the role of men and women in television in their ideal lifestyle. In modern day film-making industry, a flip of gender roles is happening, showing that men and women can be shown in a different light for the audience to see, estimating different values of love and strength. Although the role is flipping, some movies and television shows exemplify that there is still the traditional aspect, with men being strong and women being soft. Some shows imply that the traditional and modern role can be wrapped up in one series to display how the characters can build each other up and help each other out. One show that shows the bond between traditional and modern roles is How I Met Your

This type of stereotyping is not good for anyone but it is especially damaging to children because they are extremely pliable and their views of the world are not fully formed yet. When you are little, someone can tell you that the world works a certain way and you will believe them. Television is showing children that not only are all good women submissive and willing to take care of men, but if you do not do either

All in all, the researcher found that the situational comedy television shows that she observed gave results that supported her hypothesis as well a a few that contradicted it. Women on the show were seen as stronger, stricter and more independant characters that displayed many leadership qualities. On the other hand men were seen as light hearted characters that were often seen instructed by women. The researcher found that her hypothesis was false as through research she was proven otherwise.It is evident that men and women are portrayed as polar opposites and both genders have negative, and positive characteristics. The television shows did not seem to show any partiality in the sense that one gender is seen more negative than the other. However, there was inequality in the number of each gender on the show as well as how often the different genders were seen. Additionally, there were some stereotypes used in the show and also more misinterpretation/ exaggeration of the genders as well. In conclusion, this situational comedy gave an accurate representation for how the media portrays different genders but an inaccurate representation of the sexes.

Back in 2014 where both gender played their fair role within television such as females having more big roles within television shows or being the main character, as being dominant, brave, smart and intelligent such as House of Cards or in movies where some where portrayed as rebels, strong and courageous in movies such as The Hunger Games, entertainment such as those two provide a sense where both men and women can take turns sharing qualities with one another and paves the way to reducing gendered stereotypes. However, the shift in roles began to widen even more as females are beginning to strongly take up the roles as helpless, lost and unintelligent individuals over the past couple years and making men more of the dominant, figure. The media started to have negative impacts in women within families. For instances women in television are often stereotyped to portray the lesser individuals either staying at home doing some sort of house work rather than working some sort of job like men do. Granted there are some roles that allows that flexibility but a majority of roles tend to be fixated men doing such roles

Professor Susan Douglas from Ann Arbor Michigan suggests that, “Worst of all, the show has been a smash among young women…women aged from 18-34” (Douglas). Since childhood, we voluntarily or involuntarily learn and experience the typical gender roles that have been put in our society for centuries. Whether it comes from our own parents or from entertainment, we know what the roles are. We usually support them whether we realize it or not.

Within sitcoms women have the main stereotype of been portrayed as a sex object. I believe that women are often portrayed this way due to society 's gender hierarchy. It Is said that women are only portrayed this way as long as its for entertainment purposes only as it is not accepted in reality as some women may take offence. Women are also portrayed as lazy, smart, annoying and attractive. In sitcoms one of the main stereotypes is that men are portrayed to be masculine, this is because males do not want to be seen as weak. This is not only portrayed in sitcoms but in society too. In order to fulfil the means of being masculine, the male is seen to be wealthy and therefore have high status as well as having common forms of anger. Although males want to be seen as having a high status, they show lack of care and emotions as it is not seen as masculine.

Television has played a huge role in how women see themselves and others around them. Several years ago, tv used to portray the perfect housewife whose home was always immaculately kept, her children were always dressed in matching clothes with perfect hair not to mention that she also was always beautifully dressed even when in casual clothes. To add to this pretty picture, her husband was always handsome and successful. Dinner was on the table when he arrived home and they would often have company over and entertain. Their relationship would be loving and while they might have comedic spats, she would ultimately defer to husband's wishes. I believe that these unrealistic shows put so much pressure on women to always try to be perfect and live beautiful well-ordered lives that they would often be miserable when their lives didn't look like what they saw on television. Fast forward to more recent times where not only does television still carry most of these old images but

The media as a whole has been a huge impact on their viewers’ lives. People do not just watch a television show, they tend to normalize the characters and their roles into their day to day lives. When analyzing the media and focusing on drama and reality television shows, the impact that these shows have on some of their women viewers are noticeable. Television drama shows are fictions that the average person can relate to. They are made with real life problems that people can sympathize with. Television dramas have become the newest therapy to people. People go to these over dramatized shows for the answer to their problems. Most tend to forget that these are fictional television shows, meaning they are made up characters with false problems. These shows tend to show women as the house wife, pretty and skinny, and powerful but weak minded. When looking at reality television although it is unscripted and tend to be real life situations, producers do pick out cast that are not relatable to and unlike the average person. On television dramas and reality shows men tend to be shown as dominating women in relationships, as women are shown as the men’s “trophy.” Also, as a whole television dramas and reality shows show women as “sexy” figures, emotionally unstable, and less than a man which effects their everyday lives. Television dramas and reality shows has a negative effect on female views by showing them in a negative light.